Polymath Redux

Chapter 5: Don't explore just one path, explore both!

Duncan had been the village chief for the bulk of his existence, from a young age he was expected to fulfill the role of being the village's guide. He knew from that point on that greatness was not part of his destiny, but that was fine. He loved the small village and the people around him were his life.

Many people looked up to him once he took over the position of his father.

For 40 years he had lead the village in peace, there wasn't a single incident until this fateful day. Since they lived on the fringe borders of the Xagontetia Sun Country, there were occasional monster attacks, but the monsters that tried to raid were weak.

Most of the time patrolling knights from the Sun Country would come and assist.

He was a little over 60 now, his time was due to come shortly, it was then this great tragedy befell his village. Many people far younger than him had perished, he who should rightfully be dead was alive, while the young were not.

A great sense of guilt overcame him as the two strangers saved their village. A part of him wanted to die before they were saved. He couldn't look his citizens in the eye and be happy. As the red haired woman crushed the knights he felt exhilarated, 'you got what was coming to you'. He felt guilty for such thoughts also.

Even as he was reaching the end of his life, he could feel a great change within him.

But for the sake of his village, he had to stay true to himself. He couldn't afford to change, not while his village was facing its most terrible disaster. Many children lost their parents and many parents lost their children. He needed to keep strong and continue leading the village.

The two strangers had given him the responsibility of bringing down judgment on the man responsible for decimating the village. No doubt that many parents would like to see this man die in horrible agony, and many children also. However, that was the right way. He knew he couldn't just let the feelings of his villagers get the better of them, he had to lead them so they didn't lose sight of themselves.

None of the villagers said anything regarding the man's punishment, they were all thinking, but none said a word. They would let the chief deal with it, it was his job after all. But to look the criminal in the eyes and let him free would be like disrespecting the dead, but to kill him would mean the living are the ones would be disrespected.

In such a situation, there was no victory. He wanted to blame the two strangers for giving him such a responsibility, but deep in his heart he knew it was the correct decision. As they said, it was not their right to enact justice in their stead.

This was their village, he needed to be the one who chose.

...

"This place has good air."

Irina didn't really understand that meant. The air was great, well it wasn't really a surprise, she was only born a few hours ago after all. However for Mordred who spent his entire life in a small room in the city this was really good air.

A village on the fringe borders of two hostile nations, Mordred was surprised they were even able to survive up till now.

[Intuition]

When the user concentrates, the effective range could spread to over five hundred meters. Aside from the local wildlife there were quite a few monsters around. Low level, low intelligence monsters wondered the forest in search of their next meal, it could be they were just beasts deep down inside.

Perhaps it was because of the demons that exist outside the borders of the village they were able to survive this long. It was unlikely that enemy knights would navigate through a monster infested forest just to take down a few fringe border villages with no real strategic value.